# Robert Toombs

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American lawyer (1810–1885)

Not to be confused with [Robert Tombs](/source/Robert_Tombs).

Robert Toombs 1st Confederate States Secretary of State In office February 25, 1861 – July 25, 1861 President Jefferson Davis Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Robert Hunter United States Senator from Georgia In office March 4, 1853 – February 4, 1861 Preceded by Robert Charlton Succeeded by Homer Miller Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 8th district In office March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1853 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Alexander H. Stephens Member of the Georgia House of Representatives from Wilkes County In office 1837–1843 Personal details Born Robert Augustus Toombs (1810-07-02)July 2, 1810 Washington, Georgia, US Died December 15, 1885(1885-12-15) (aged 75) Washington, Georgia, US Party Whig (Before 1851) Constitutional Union (1851–1853) Democratic (1853–1885) Alma mater University of Georgia Union College University of Virginia Signature Military service Allegiance Confederate States Branch/service Confederate States Army Georgia Militia Years of service 1861-1863 (CS Army) 1863-1865 (Georgia Militia) Rank Brigadier General Commands Toomb' Brigade Battles/wars American Civil War Peninsula Campaign Seven Days Battles Northern Virginia Campaign Maryland Campaign Battle of Antietam (WIA)

**Robert Augustus Toombs** (July 2, 1810 – December 15, 1885) was an American politician from Georgia, who was an important figure in the formation of the [Confederacy](/source/Confederate_States_of_America). From a privileged background as a wealthy planter and slaveholder, Toombs embarked on a political career marked by effective oratory, although he also acquired a reputation for hard living, disheveled appearance, and irascibility. He was identified with [Alexander H. Stephens](/source/Alexander_H._Stephens)'s libertarian wing of secessionist opinion, and in contradiction to the nationalist [Jefferson Davis](/source/Jefferson_Davis), Toombs believed a civil war to be neither inevitable nor winnable by the South.

Appointed as [Secretary of State of the Confederacy](/source/Confederate_States_Secretary_of_State) (which lacked political parties), Toombs was against the decision to [attack Fort Sumter](/source/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter), and resigned from Davis's cabinet. He was commissioned a brigadier general in the [Confederate States Army](/source/Confederate_States_Army) and was wounded at the [Battle of Antietam](/source/Battle_of_Antietam), where he performed creditably. During the 1865 [Battle of Columbus](/source/Battle_of_Columbus_(1865)), Toombs's reluctance to use [canister shot](/source/Canister_shot) on a mixture of Union and Confederate soldiers resulted in the loss of a key bridge in the war's final significant action. He avoided detention by traveling to Europe. On his return two years later, he declined to ask for a pardon, and successfully stood for election in Georgia when the [Reconstruction era](/source/Reconstruction_era) ended in 1877.

## Early life and education

Born near [Washington, Georgia](/source/Washington%2C_Georgia) in 1810, Robert Augustus Toombs was the fifth child of Catherine Huling and planter Robert Toombs. He was of [English](/source/English_American) descent.[1] His father died when he was five. After private education, Toombs entered [Franklin College](/source/Franklin_College_of_Arts_and_Sciences) at the [University of Georgia](/source/University_of_Georgia) in [Athens](/source/Athens%2C_Georgia) when he was fourteen.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] During his time at Franklin College, Toombs was a member of the [Demosthenian Literary Society](/source/Demosthenian_Literary_Society).[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] After the university chastised Toombs for unbecoming conduct in a card-playing incident,[2][*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] he continued his education at [Union College](/source/Union_College), in [Schenectady, New York](/source/Schenectady%2C_New_York). He graduated there in 1828. He returned to the South to study law at the [University of Virginia Law School](/source/University_of_Virginia_Law_School) in [Charlottesville](/source/Charlottesville%2C_Virginia).

### Marriage and family

Shortly after his admission to the Georgia bar, on November 18, 1830, Toombs married his childhood sweetheart, Martha Juliann ("Julia") DuBose (1813–1883), daughter of Ezekiel DuBose and his wife of Lincoln County, Georgia.[3][4] They had three children. Lawrence Catlett (1831–1832) died of [scarlet fever](/source/Scarlet_fever). Mary Louisa (1833–1855) married and died in childbirth, along with her baby. Sarah (Sallie) (1835–1866) married [Dudley M. DuBose](/source/Dudley_M._DuBose), a distant cousin. She died of complications of childbirth, together with her fifth child Julian.[5]

## Early legal and political career

Toombs was admitted to the Georgia bar and began his legal practice in 1830. He entered politics, gaining election to the [Georgia House of Representatives](/source/Georgia_House_of_Representatives), where he served in 1838. He failed to win re-election, but was elected again in the next term, serving 1840–1841. He failed again to win re-election, but was elected in 1842, serving a third, non-successive term, 1843–1844.

Toombs won a seat in the [United States House of Representatives](/source/United_States_House_of_Representatives) in 1844, and would win re-election several times. He served several terms in the lower chamber until 1853. In 1852 the state legislature elected him to the US Senate. There Toombs joined his close friend and fellow representative [Alexander H. Stephens](/source/Alexander_H._Stephens) from [Crawfordville, Georgia](/source/Crawfordville%2C_Georgia). Their friendship became a powerful personal and political bond, and they effectively defined and articulated Georgia's position on national issues in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Toombs, like Stephens, emerged as a states' rights partisan and became a national [Whig](/source/United_States_Whig_Party). After that party dissolved, Toombs aided in the creation of the short-lived [Constitutional Union Party](/source/Constitutional_Union_Party_(United_States)) in the early 1850s.

As did most Whigs, Toombs considered Texas to be the 28th state, but he opposed the Mexican–American War.[6]

## Slaveholdings

Toombs and his brother Gabriel owned large plantations and operated them using enslaved African Americans. Toombs increased his personal slave holdings as his wealth increased. Toombs owned six slaves in 1840.[7] By 1850, he owned 17 slaves.[8] In 1860, he owned 16 slaves at his Wilkes County plantation,[9] and an additional 32 slaves at his 3,800-acre plantation in [Stewart County, Georgia](/source/Stewart_County%2C_Georgia) on the [Chattahoochee River](/source/Chattahoochee_River).[10]

By 1860, Toombs and his wife lived without any other family members in [Wilkes County](/source/Wilkes_County%2C_Georgia); in the census that year, Toombs owned $200,000 in real estate; the value of his personal property, primarily made up of slaves, totaled $250,000.[11] One of his slaves, [Garland H. White](/source/Garland_H._White), escaped just before the Civil War. He became a soldier and chaplain in the Union Army in 1862. Other slaves were freed by the Union Army as it occupied areas of Georgia. [William Gaines](/source/William_Gaines_(minister_and_community_leader)) and [Wesley John Gaines](/source/Wesley_John_Gaines) (1840–1912), also former slaves of Toombs, both became church leaders.[12]

## From Unionist to Confederate

Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, Toombs fought to reconcile national policies with his personal and sectional interests. In common with [Alexander H. Stephens](/source/Alexander_H._Stephens) and [Howell Cobb](/source/Howell_Cobb), he defended [Henry Clay](/source/Henry_Clay)'s [Compromise of 1850](/source/Compromise_of_1850) against southerners who advocated [secession](/source/Secession) from the Union as the only solution to sectional tensions over slavery, though during the debate leading up to that compromise he had declared, "if by your legislation you seek to drive us from the Territories purchased by the common blood and treasure of the people, and to abolish slavery in the District, thereby attempting to fix a national degradation upon half the States of this confederacy, I am for disunion, and if my physical courage be equal to the maintenance of my convictions of right and duty I will devote all I am and all I have on earth to its consummation."[13] He denounced the [Nashville Convention](/source/Nashville_Convention), opposed the secessionists in Georgia, and helped to frame the famous [Georgia platform](/source/Georgia_platform) (1850). His position and that of Southern Unionists during the decade 1850–1860 was pragmatic; he thought secession was impractical.[14]

From 1853 to 1861, Toombs served in the [United States Senate](/source/United_States_Senate). He reluctantly joined the [Democratic Party](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) when lack of interest among voters in other states doomed the [Constitutional Union Party](/source/Constitutional_Union_Party_(United_States)). Toombs favored the [Kansas–Nebraska Act](/source/Kansas%E2%80%93Nebraska_Act) of 1854, the admission of [Kansas](/source/Kansas) as a [slave state](/source/Slave_state) under the [Lecompton Constitution](/source/Lecompton_Constitution), and the [English Bill (1858)](/source/English_Bill_(1858)). However, his faith in the resiliency and effectiveness of the national government to resolve sectional conflicts waned as the 1850s drew to a close.

Toombs was present on May 22, 1856, when Congressman [Preston Brooks](/source/Preston_Brooks) beat Senator [Charles Sumner](/source/Charles_Sumner) with a cane on the Senate floor.[15] As Brooks thrashed Sumner, his House allies [Laurence M. Keitt](/source/Laurence_M._Keitt) and [Henry A. Edmundson](/source/Henry_A._Edmundson) prevented witnesses from coming to Sumner's aid, with Keitt brandishing a pistol to keep them at bay.[15] Senator [John J. Crittenden](/source/John_J._Crittenden) attempted to intervene, and pleaded with Brooks not to kill Sumner.[15] Toombs interceded for Crittenden, begging Keitt not to attack someone who was not a party to the Brooks-Sumner dispute. Later Toombs suggested that he had no issue with Brooks beating Sumner, and in fact approved of it.[15]

On June 24, 1856, Toombs introduced the Toombs Bill, which proposed a constitutional convention in Kansas under conditions that were acknowledged by various anti-slavery leaders as fair. This marked the greatest concessions made by pro-slavery senators during the struggle over Kansas. But the bill did not provide for the submission of the proposed state constitution to popular vote, where, as the vote on the Lecompton Constitution showed, it would have been soundly defeated. The silence on this point of the territorial law, under which the Lecompton Constitution of Kansas was framed in 1857, was the crux of the Lecompton struggle.

According to historian Jacob S. Clawson, he was "a bullish politician whose blend of acerbic wit, fiery demeanor, and political tact aroused the full spectrum of emotions from his constituents and colleagues....[he] could not balance his volatile personality with his otherwise keen political skill."[16]

Toombs decried what he saw as support in the North for [John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry](/source/John_Brown's_raid_on_Harpers_Ferry) in 1859. "The thousands of blind Republicans who do openly approve the treason, murder, and arson of John Brown, get no condemnation from their party for such acts. …It is vain, in face of these injuries, to talk of peace, fraternity, and common country. There is no peace; there is no fraternity; there is no common country; all of us know it." Toombs declared that the South should "Never permit this Federal Government to pass into the traitors' hands of the black Republican party. …The enemy is at your door; wait not to meet him at your hearthstone; meet him at the door-sill, and drive him from the Temple of Liberty, or pull down its pillars and involve him in a common ruin."[13]

## Secession

The original [Confederate Cabinet](/source/Confederate_States_of_America#Executive). L-R: [Judah P. Benjamin](/source/Judah_P._Benjamin), [Stephen Mallory](/source/Stephen_Mallory), [Christopher Memminger](/source/Christopher_Memminger), [Alexander Stephens](/source/Alexander_Stephens), [LeRoy Pope Walker](/source/LeRoy_Pope_Walker), [Jefferson Davis](/source/Jefferson_Davis), [John H. Reagan](/source/John_Henninger_Reagan) and Robert Toombs.

In the [presidential campaign of 1860](/source/U.S._presidential_election%2C_1860), Toombs supported [John C. Breckinridge](/source/John_C._Breckinridge). After the election of Republican [Abraham Lincoln](/source/Abraham_Lincoln) Toombs initially urged caution "to test Republican willingness to do the South justice".[17] On December 22 Toombs sent a telegram to Georgia that asserted that "secession by March 4 next should be thundered forth from the ballot-box by the united voice of Georgia." He delivered a farewell address in the US Senate (January 7, 1861) in which he said: "We want no negro equality, no negro citizenship; we want no negro race to degrade our own; and as one man [we] would meet you upon the border with the sword in one hand and the torch in the other."[18] He returned to Georgia, and with Governor [Joseph E. Brown](/source/Joseph_E._Brown) led the fight for secession against Stephens and [Herschel V. Johnson](/source/Herschel_V._Johnson) (1812–1880). His influence was a powerful factor in inducing the "old-line Whigs" to support immediate secession.

Toombs' house in [Washington, Georgia](/source/Washington%2C_Georgia), seen here in 1934.

Unlike the crises of 1850, these events galvanized Toombs and energized his ambitions of becoming the president of the new [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) nation.

## Confederacy

The selection of [Jefferson Davis](/source/Jefferson_Davis) as chief executive dashed Toombs's hopes of holding the high office of the fledgling Confederacy. In [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(U.S._state)), it was expected the new president would be one of the delegates from Georgia.[19] Toombs had a serious drinking problem which worried fellow delegates, leading him to not be selected.[20] Toombs had no diplomatic skills, but Davis chose him as the [Secretary of State](/source/Confederate_States_Secretary_of_State). Toombs was the only member of Davis' administration to express dissent about the Confederacy's attack on Fort Sumter.

After reading Lincoln's letter to the governor of South Carolina, Toombs said to Davis:

"Mr. President, at this time it is suicide, murder, and will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet's nest which extends from mountain to ocean, and legions now quiet will swarm out and sting us to death. It is unnecessary; it puts us in the wrong; it is fatal."[21]

### Army general

Within months of his cabinet appointment, a frustrated Toombs resigned to join the [Confederate States Army](/source/Confederate_States_Army) (CSA). He was commissioned as a [brigadier general](/source/History_of_Confederate_States_Army_Generals#Brigadier_general) on July 19, 1861, and served first as a brigade commander in the (Confederate) [Army of the Potomac](/source/Army_of_the_Potomac_(Confederate)), and then in [David R. Jones](/source/David_Rumph_Jones)' [division](/source/Division_(military)) of the [Army of Northern Virginia](/source/Army_of_Northern_Virginia). He commanded troops through the [Peninsula Campaign](/source/Peninsula_Campaign), [Seven Days Battles](/source/Seven_Days_Battles), [Northern Virginia Campaign](/source/Northern_Virginia_Campaign), and [Maryland Campaign](/source/Maryland_Campaign). He was wounded in the hand at the [Battle of Antietam](/source/Battle_of_Antietam), where he commanded the defense of [Burnside's Bridge](/source/Burnside's_Bridge).

Toombs resigned his CSA commission on March 3, 1863. He returned to Georgia, where he became [colonel](/source/Colonel_(United_States)) of the 3rd Cavalry of the [Georgia Militia](/source/Georgia_Militia). He subsequently served as a brigadier general and adjutant and inspector-general of General [Gustavus W. Smith](/source/Gustavus_Woodson_Smith)'s division of the Georgia Militia. He strongly criticized Davis and the Confederate government, opposing conscription and the suspension of [habeas corpus](/source/Habeas_corpus). Newspapers warned that he verged on treason. At the [Battle of Columbus](/source/Battle_of_Columbus_(1865)) in 1865, Toombs commanded the defense of the upper bridge.

When the war ended, Davis was arrested at [Irwinville, Georgia](/source/Irwinville%2C_Georgia), on May 10, 1865. On May 14, Union soldiers appeared at Toombs' home in Washington, Georgia, and demanded his appearance. He escaped into Alabama, thence by boat to New Orleans and by steam to Europe. He reached Paris, France, early in July 1865 along with [P.G.T. Beauregard](/source/P.G.T._Beauregard) and Julia Colquitt, wife of another Confederate general. They were seeking to avoid arrest and trial as leaders of the Confederacy.[22]

## Final years

His wife returned to Georgia in late 1866 following the death of their last surviving child, Sallie Toombs DuBose, in Washington County, Georgia. She went to help their widowed son-in-law care for several small children. Toombs missed his wife and returned to Georgia in 1867, but refused to request a pardon from the president. He never regained his right to vote nor hold political office during the Reconstruction era.[23]

However, Toombs resumed his lucrative law practice, in connection with his son-in-law [Dudley M. DuBose](/source/Dudley_M._DuBose). The latter was elected in 1870 as a Democratic U.S. Representative and served one term. Toombs gradually resumed political power in Georgia. He funded and dominated the Georgia constitutional convention of 1877, in the year that federal troops were withdrawn from the South.[24] He demonstrated the political skill and temperament that earlier had earned him a reputation as one of Georgia's most effective leaders. He gained a populist reputation for attacks on railroads and state investment in them.

## Death

1883 was a year marked by losses for Toombs. As March began, his son-in-law Dudley M. Dubose had a stroke and died. His long-time political ally, former Confederate Vice-president and Georgia Governor, [Alexander H. Stephens](/source/Alexander_H._Stephens), also died. By September, his beloved wife Julia died. After that, he sank into depression, alcoholism, and ultimately became blind.[25]

Toombs died on December 15, 1885. He was buried at Resthaven Cemetery in Wilkes County, Georgia with his wife, his daughter, and son-in-law. Toombs was survived by four grandchildren.

## Legacy

The [Georgia Department of Natural Resources](/source/Georgia_Department_of_Natural_Resources) owns the house and land; Wilkes County, Georgia operates the [Robert Toombs House](/source/Robert_Toombs_House) in Washington.[26] Georgia also erected a historical marker in [Clarkesville](/source/Clarkesville%2C_Georgia), [Habersham County, Georgia](/source/Habersham_County%2C_Georgia) concerning the Toombs-Bleckly House, which Toombs acquired as a summer residence in 1879 and sold to Georgia Supreme Court justice [Logan E. Bleckley](/source/Logan_E._Bleckley) five years later, although it burned down in 1897.[27]

These locations were named for Robert Toombs:

- [Toombs County, Georgia](/source/Toombs_County%2C_Georgia) is named for Robert Toombs.[28]

- [Wilkin County, Minnesota](/source/Wilkin_County%2C_Minnesota) was originally Toombs County.

- Toombs Judicial Circuit includes the superior courts of Glascock County, Lincoln County, McDuffie County, Taliaferro County, Warren County, and Wilkes County.[29]

- So is the Georgia town of [Toomsboro](/source/Toomsboro), though with a slightly altered spelling.

- [Camp Toombs](/source/Camp_Toombs) in [Toccoa, Georgia](/source/Toccoa%2C_Georgia), was the training base of [Easy Company, 506th Parachute Regiment](/source/E_Company%2C_506th_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)) during World War II and was named after him.

- [Robert Toombs Christian Academy](http://www.rtcacrusaders.org/index.cfm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120224094719/http://www.rtcacrusaders.org/index.cfm) February 24, 2012, at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), a [segregation academy](/source/Segregation_academy) in [Lyons, Georgia](/source/Lyons%2C_Georgia), is named in his honor.

In addition, two steamships were named for him. The Liberty Ship SS *Robert Toombs* was launched in 1943 by the Southeastern Shipbuilding Corporation and served through World War II and after, eventually being sold for scrap.[30] The troop transport USS *General LeRoy Eltinge* (AP-154) was sold out of federal service to the Waterman Steamship Company and rebuilt as a long hatch general cargo ship in 1968. Renamed the SS *Robert Toombs*, she served with Waterman until being sold for scrap in 1980.

## See also

- [List of signers of the Georgia Ordinance of Secession](/source/List_of_signers_of_the_Georgia_Ordinance_of_Secession)

- [Confederate States of America](/source/Confederate_States_of_America#Causes_of_secession), causes of secession

- ["Died of states' rights"](/source/Confederate_States_of_America#"Died_of_states'_rights")

- [List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)](/source/List_of_American_Civil_War_generals_(Confederate))

- [Robert Toombs House](/source/Robert_Toombs_House)

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** *Robert Toombs, statesman, speaker, soldier, sage: his career in Congress and ...* By Pleasant A. Stovall, page 2

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Seibert, David. ["Robert Toombs Oak historical marker"](http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/clarke/robert-toombs-oak). Digital Library of Georgia. Retrieved October 26, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [Julia DuBose Toombs](https://www.civilwarwomenblog.com/julia-dubose-toombs), Civil War Women blog

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Toombs, Robert. ["Letters to Martha Juliann DuBose Toombs, 1850-1867"](http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/hargrett/toombs/). *Digital Library of Georgia*. Retrieved May 14, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** 1950 U.S. Federal Census for Washington, Wilkes County Georgia family 677

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** [Thompson, William Y.](/source/William_Y._Thompson) (1966). *Robert Toombs of Georgia*. Baton Rouge: [Louisiana State University](/source/Louisiana_State_University) Press. p. 38. [LCCN](/source/LCCN_(identifier)) [66-25722](https://lccn.loc.gov/66-25722). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [788461](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/788461).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** 1840 United States Census, [United States census](/source/United_States_census), 1840; District 164, Wilkes, Georgia.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** 1850 United States Census, Slave Schedule, [United States census](/source/United_States_census), 1850; Subdivision 94, Wilkes, Georgia.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** 1860 United States Census, Slave Schedule, [United States census](/source/United_States_census), 1860; Wilkes, Georgia; page 85,.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** 1860 United States Census, Slave Schedule, [United States census](/source/United_States_census), 1860; District 22, Stewart, Georgia; page 8-9,.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** 1860 U.S. Federal Census for Wilkes County, Georgia, family 547

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Jackson Chapel to celebrate 150 years in special service with Bishop Jackson – www.news-reporter.com – News-Reporter"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180210062203/http://www.news-reporter.com/news/2017-09-21/Front_Page/Jackson_Chapel_to_celebrate_150_years_in_special_s.html). Archived from [the original](http://www.news-reporter.com/news/2017-09-21/Front_Page/Jackson_Chapel_to_celebrate_150_years_in_special_s.html) on February 10, 2018. Retrieved February 10, 2018.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-t739_13-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-t739_13-1) Stovall, Pleasant A. (July 16, 2008). ["The Project Gutenberg eBook of Robert Toombs, by Pleasant A. Stovall"](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26069/26069-h/26069-h.htm). *Project Gutenberg*. Retrieved October 16, 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Thompson, p 58

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Scroggins_15-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Scroggins_15-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Scroggins_15-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Scroggins_15-3) Scroggins, Mark (2011). [*Robert Toombs: The Civil Wars of a United States Senator and Confederate General*](https://books.google.com/books?id=RDJxLEYVH0UC&pg=PA91). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 91. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7864-6363-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7864-6363-3) – via Google Books.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Jacob S. Clawson, "A Georgia Firebrand in the Midst of the Sectional Crisis" (H-CivWar, March 2012) [online](https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=34777)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Bryan, T. Conn (June 1947). ["The Secession of Georgia"](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40577110). *The Georgia Historical Quarterly*. **31** (2): 90. [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [40577110](https://www.jstor.org/stable/40577110).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["The South Rises Again and Again and Again"](https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/27/the-south-rises-again-and-again-and-again/#more-78437), *Opinionator blog*, *The New York Times*, January 27, 2011

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** Greenwalt, Phill (May 25, 2017). ["The Night That Decided the Confederate President"](https://emergingcivilwar.com/2017/05/25/the-night-that-decided-the-confederate-president/). *Emerging Civil War*. Retrieved May 4, 2023.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Boney, F. N. (1997). [*Rebel Georgia*](https://books.google.com/books?id=FBjVHP1AhgsC&pg=PA19). Mercer University Press. pp. 19–20. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780865545519](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780865545519).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** Scroggins, Mark (2011). [*Robert Toombs: The Civil Wars of a United States Senator and Confederate General*](https://books.google.com/books?id=RDJxLEYVH0UC&pg=PA134). McFarland. p. 134. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780786487110](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780786487110).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** Chesson 2000

1. **[^](#cite_ref-civilwarwomen_23-0)** ["Julia Dubose Toombs"](https://www.civilwarwomenblog.com/julia-dubose-toombs/). April 4, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Garrison, Ellen (Winter 2006). ["Reactionaries or Reformers? Membership and Leadership of the Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1877"](http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=23695961&site=eds-live&scope=site). *Georgia Historical Quarterly*. **90** (4). Retrieved October 26, 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** Chesson, 2000

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** ["Home – Washington-Wilkes Chamber of Commerce, GA"](https://www.washingtonwilkes.org/). *washingtonwilkes.org*. Retrieved June 13, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** ["Historical Markers by County – GeorgiaInfo"](https://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/habersham/toombs-bleckley-house). *georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu*. Retrieved June 13, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** Krakow, Kenneth K. (1975). [*Georgia Place-Names: Their History and Origins*](http://www.kenkrakow.com/gpn/t.pdf) (PDF). Macon, GA: Winship Press. p. 228. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-915430-00-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-915430-00-2).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** ["Council of Superior Court Judges"](https://web.archive.org/web/20100705212418/http://www.cscj.org/circuits/toombs). *cscj.org*. Archived from [the original](http://www.cscj.org/circuits/toombs) on July 5, 2010. Retrieved June 13, 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** ["Robert Toombs"](https://vesselhistory.marad.dot.gov/ShipHistory/Detail/4200).

## References

- Chesson, Michael. "Toombs, Robert Augustus"; [*American National Biography Online* 2000](http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00991.html)

- [Davis, William C.](/source/William_C._Davis_(historian)), *The Union That Shaped the Confederacy: Robert Toombs and Alexander H. Stephens.* University Press of Kansas, 2001. Pp. xi, 284.

- Eicher, John H., and [David J. Eicher](/source/David_J._Eicher), *Civil War High Commands.* Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8047-3641-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8047-3641-1).

- [Phillips, Ulrich B.](/source/Ulrich_B._Phillips) *The Life of Robert Toombs* (1913), a scholarly biography focused on his antebellum political career. [online](https://books.google.com/books?id=W-VIJSnVBYAC)

- Scroggins, Mark. *Robert Toombs: The Civil Wars of a United States Senator and Confederate General* (Jefferson McFarland, 2011) 242 pp. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7864-6363-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7864-6363-3) [online review](https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=34777), scholarly biography

- Sifakis, Stewart. *Who Was Who in the Civil War.* New York: Facts on File, 1988. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8160-1055-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8160-1055-4).

- Thompson, William Y. *Robert Toombs of Georgia* (1966), scholarly biography

- [Warner, Ezra J.](/source/Ezra_J._Warner_(historian)) *Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders.* Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8071-0823-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8071-0823-9).

### Primary sources

- Phillips, Ulrich B. "The Correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens, and Howell Cobb" in *Annual Report of the American Historical Association,* vol. 2 (1911). [online](https://books.google.com/books?id=6acOAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA53) 759 pp

- [Toombs, Robert. "Letters to Julia Ann Dubose Toombs, 1850-1867". Digital Library of Georgia.](http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/hargrett/toombs/)

## Further reading

- Benj. B. Kendrick. "Toombs and Stevens." Political Science Quarterly 29, no. 3 (1914): 491–99. [online](https://doi.org/10.2307/2141463).

- Bryan, T. Conn. "The Secession of Georgia." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 31, no. 2 (1947): 89–111. [online](http://www.jstor.org/stable/40577110).

- Doherty, Herbert J. "Union Nationalism in Georgia." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 37, no. 1 (1953): 18–38. [online](http://www.jstor.org/stable/40577418).

- Garrison, Ellen. "Reactionaries or Reformers? Membership and Leadership of the Georgia Constitutional Convention of 1877." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 90, no. 4 (2006): 505–24. [online](http://www.jstor.org/stable/40584974).

- Hubbell, John T. "Three Georgia Unionists and the Compromise of 1850." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 51, no. 3 (1967): 307–23. [online](http://www.jstor.org/stable/40578706).

- "Rebel Lion Redux", by Ray Chandler, *Georgia Backroads*, Summer 2008, pp. 19–23.

- Thompson, William Y. "Robert Toombs, Man Without a Country." The Georgia Historical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1962): 162–68. [online](http://www.jstor.org/stable/40578194).

## External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Robert Toombs](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Robert_Toombs).

- [Works by or about Robert Toombs](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Toombs%2C%20Robert%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Robert%20Toombs%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Toombs%2C%20Robert%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Robert%20Toombs%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Toombs%2C%20R%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Robert%20Toombs%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Toombs%2C%20Robert%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Robert%20Toombs%22%29%20OR%20%28%221810-1885%22%20AND%20Toombs%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)

- [*Robert Toombs*](http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-799) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130405165521/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-799) April 5, 2013, at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine), New Georgia Encyclopedia

- United States Congress. ["Robert Toombs (id: T000313)"](http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=T000313). *[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress](/source/Biographical_Directory_of_the_United_States_Congress)*. Retrieved on 2008-02-13

- [*The Life of Robert Toombs*](https://web.archive.org/web/20070312093939/http://portagepub.com/products/causouth/index.html)

- *[Robert Toombs : Statesman, Speaker, Soldier, Sage](https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/26069)* at [Project Gutenberg](/source/Project_Gutenberg) (Transcription of 1892 text)

- [Robert Toombs' Letters to Julia Ann Dubose Toombs, 1850-1867](http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/CollectionsA-Z/zlrt_information.html), Digital Library of Georgia

- [Daguerreotype of Robert Toombs, Richmond, Virginia, ca. 1854](http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vang/id:wlk153), taken by Jesse Whitehurst, at Digital Library of Georgia

- [Toombs-Bleckley House](http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/habersham/toombs-bleckley-house) historical marker

- [Robert Augustus "Bob" Toombs (1810-1885)](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9092) [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave) Memorial

Offices and distinctions U.S. House of Representatives New constituency Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 8th congressional district 1845–1853 Succeeded by Alexander Stephens U.S. Senate Preceded by William Dawson United States Senator (Class 2) from Georgia 1853–1861 Served alongside: Henry Foote, Alfred Iverson Succeeded by Homer Miller(1) Political offices New office Confederate States Secretary of State 1861 Succeeded by Robert Hunter Notes and references 1. Because of Georgia's secession, the Senate seat was vacant for ten years before Miller succeeded Toombs.

Articles related to Robert Toombs v t e Signatories of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States President of the Congress Howell Cobb South Carolina Robert Barnwell Rhett R. W. Barnwell James Chesnut, Jr. C. G. Memminger Wm. Porcher Miles Laurence M. Keitt William W. Boyce Tho. J. Withers Georgia R. Toombs Francis S. Bartow Martin J. Crawford E. A. Nisbet Benjamin H. Hill Augustus R. Wright Thos. R. R. Cobb A. H. Kenan Alexander H. Stephens Florida Jackson Morton Jas. B. Owens J. Patton Anderson Alabama Richard W. Walker Robt. H. Smith Colin J. McRae Jno. Gill Shorter William Parish Chilton Stephen F. Hale David P. Lewis Tho. Fearn J. L. M. Curry Mississippi W. P. Harris Alexander M. Clayton W. S. Wilson James T. Harrison Walker Brooke William S. Barry J. A. P. Campbell Louisiana John Perkins, Jr. Alex. de Clouet C. M. Conrad Duncan F. Kenner Edward Sparrow Henry Marshall Texas Thomas N. Waul Williamson S. Oldham John Gregg John H. Reagan W. B. Ochiltree John Hemphill Louis T. Wigfall Category Commons v t e Signatories of the Confederate States Constitution President of the Congress Howell Cobb South Carolina Robert Barnwell Rhett C. G. Memminger Wm. Porcher Miles James Chesnut Jr. R. W. Barnwell William W. Boyce Laurence Keitt T. J. Withers Georgia R. Toombs Francis S. Bartow Martin J. Crawford Alexander H. Stephens Benjamin H. Hill Thos. R. R. Cobb E. A. Nisbet Augustus R. Wright A. H. Kenan Florida Jackson Morton J. Patton Anderson Jas. B. Owens Alabama Richard W. Walker Robt. H. Smith Colin J. McRae William P. Chilton Stephen F. Hale David P. Lewis Tho. Fearn Jno. Gill Shorter J. L. M. Curry Mississippi Alexander M. Clayton James T. Harrison William S. Barry W. S. Wilson Walker Brooke W. P. Harris J. A. P. Campbell Louisiana John Perkins Jr. Alex. de Clouet C. M. Conrad Duncan F. Kenner Henry Marshall Edward Sparrow Texas John Hemphill Thomas N. Waul John H. Reagan Williamson S. Oldham Louis T. Wigfall John Gregg William Beck Ochiltree Category Commons v t e United States senators from Georgia Class 2 Few Jackson Walton Tattnall Baldwin Jones Crawford Bulloch Bibb Troup Forsyth Walker Ware Cobb Prince Troup King Lumpkin Berrien Charlton Toombs H. Miller Norwood B. Hill Barrow A. Colquitt Walsh Bacon West Hardwick Harris Cohen Russell Gambrell Nunn Cleland Chambliss Perdue Ossoff Class 3 Gunn Jackson Milledge Tait Elliott Berrien Forsyth Cuthbert W. Colquitt Johnson Dawson Iverson J. Hill Gordon Brown Gordon Clay Terrell Smith Watson Felton George Talmadge Mattingly Fowler Coverdell Z. Miller Isakson Loeffler Warnock v t e Cabinet of President Jefferson Davis (1861–1865) Vice President Alexander H. Stephens (1861–65) Secretary of State Robert Toombs (1861) Robert M. T. Hunter (1861–62) Judah P. Benjamin (1862–65) Secretary of the Treasury C. G. Memminger (1861–64) G. A. Trenholm (1864–65) John H. Reagan (1865) Secretary of War Leroy P. Walker (1861) Judah P. Benjamin (1861–62) George W. Randolph (1862) James A. Seddon (1862–65) John C. Breckinridge (1865) Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory (1861–65) Postmaster-General John H. Reagan (1861–65) Attorney-General Judah P. Benjamin (1861) Thomas Bragg (1861–62) Thomas H. Watts (1862–63) George Davis (1864–65)

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